But what if I want to break the bank because I can stop whenever I want I swear!

I love my home UniFi network. I've got a UDM Pro, a 16-port POE switch, and 3 WiFi 6 access points covering my house. I've also got a couple of UniFi cameras for security. My network is rock solid and has been, since day one. It's easy to manage, easy to expand, and easy on the budget for what I get. I've learned a lot from this channel and from Canadian Cody.

In Europe we have brick/concrete houses by default, so here it's more like 1 or multiple access points per floor depending on the number of walls and size of the house.

I built my UniFi network using this channel as the primary resource. First came the UDM pro. Then a 24 port POE switch, 2 - 8 port POE switches in outbuildings with nine access points across 5 buildings on a 1 acre lakeside lot. Overkill? ABSOLUTELY. All buildings have a Cat 5e back haul to the 24 port switch/UDM Pro. I have full bars on every inch of the property. The network has been rock solid from day one. Thanks Chris!

When I bought my home a few years ago one of the selling features was that it had wired networking to almost every room. Found a good deal on a used Unifi 48 port switch which allowed me to actually connect all the ethernet cables that led back to my network closet. Also bought a basic unifi AP (NanoHD). Fast forward to today and I have now added a UCG Ultra and upgraded to a U7 Pro AP. The old AP has been relocated to the garage. Very happy with everything.

Another great UI pitch. I have a UDMP for the house. I recently added a detached garage to my property and have heard horror stories of underground copper network cables being affected by nearby lightning strikes. I wanted a non-conductive alternative. I went with a Switch 8 PoE (150W) connected VIA SFP adapters and fiber to the UDMP. I have cameras, AP and such connected to it. It's working out great!

I'm using the UDR and it covers my entire house 3 floors, my house is 100 yr old with plaster walls. I have an additional access point, but the UDR is so good that the access point doesn't have any clients on it

This is great information for those interested in Unifi for their home setup.

Thanks for this video, i was looking for one just like it, and this is the only one that answers all of my questions. Perfect timing!

Here in the UKwoth our house construction (bricks / steel / concrete I have lots of installs that use over 10 APs. Love Unifi. Thanks for the great content

New to Unifi gear, it's the 'Apple' of networking gear. Great quality, great integration, rock solid. I have a UCG Ultra, a 16 port POE unifi switch and three access points. Upgrading today to the UDM pro as I want to start throwing up some unifi camera's. Great video, many thanks. 🤗

Very smart to create a product-selector with a kickback URL. Providing value for us and money for you :).

Thanks very much for all of your help. Dream Machine SE and U6 Enterprise replaced my rented Verizon FiOS equipment thanks to you and some others. Busy smart home with 65 connected clients, rocket ship fast from anywhere in and out of the house (1000sqft). As soon as I can talk myself into running some Ethernet cable I'm replacing my Arlo system next : )

I've really wanted to get a UDR for my home network, but they are never in stock. The setup you mentioned in the video is exactly what I had specked out for me.

My setup I’m a beginner UniFi Claud gateway ultra Switch Poe lite Access point u7 pro Very happy

Great explanation, it has cleared up several doubts for me! Thanks!

GREAT VIDEO!!!! I know when I first started I just jump into buying UDM-Pro and bought 1 wifi device, and 1 camera. I then followed your videos on how to setup the device. Had to wait about 1 month before I started building my network because of the cost. Wish I would of started like you mention in the video but glad I just jumped in the ocean.. since then I have updated my network to more devices. Keep up the great work, and look forward on more videos.

Great video for beginners 😊 - the best decision I made three years ago. Unifi is brilliant - stable and user friendly.

The setup you provide at the end is very close to what I got as my first Unifi setup last month. Cloud Gateway Ultra, Lite 8 port switch, U6 Pro, and two flex minis. If I could go back and do it again I'd get the 16 port lite switch you talk about because I already have the need to expand on the switch, so the 16 port lite is on my radar for the future. I'm renting now so I didn't need protect, but once we buy our home I'll upgrade everything so I can run protect.

Great into video Chris - thx. Here the installs get very expensive very quickly because the houses are all brick & mortar and mostly with concrete slabs between floors. Also a lot of the installs we deal with are where the owners only think about wifi AFTER the fact - but alas, once done the customers seldom look back 🤗

This is coming at the perfect time as I am planning my home network for our new house. Ive been using typical household equipment but I want something that is 2.5/5gbps capable as our fiber connection is available in higher speeds. Debating between going full Ubiquiti or maybe a fancy TP-link Wifi 7 Router.

I built my network out 3 years ago when we bought a home with in wall Ethernet (Cat 5e.) Mostly done with assistance from KZfaqrs like you! UDM Pro USW 16 PoE 4 In Wall HDs (I love these for their ability to just plug into an existing Ethernet wall jack and act as a switch) 3 Flex Minis for behind entertainment centers The setup has been outstanding. The WiFi 5 In Walls are fine for our needs. If anything, the 4 APs are probably overkill. I do have thoughts on what I’d do differently if starting now, like planning for 2.5Gb so I could upgrade to more powerful APs in the future, but I haven’t seen a need for that yet.

I’m one month in with my UCG Ultra, U6 Pro AP and the 16 POE Lite switch. Completely new to all this, it’s been a lot of fun

thank you very much for this video. I am not yet in the Unifi family, but have been given the go ahead from my wife after multiple issues with our Linksys router. While we both are happy with our Ring cameras and doorbell, I will plan on a system whereby I could use Unifi cameras in the future.

Excellent explainer video, thanks!

So weird that I've been looking right at this time. And here's the video to help

I could follow you until the switch/ap part. I feel that the 8-port switch ultra is overkill for most and the 8-port lite switch is not only cheaper but with 4 POE ports provides plenty of options for future expansion. Also: 60 watts feed A LOT more devices than 2 or 3. my Unifi 6+ AP's draw like 4-5 watts, my CK2 plus draws 6 watts and my flex poe switch around 8 (with one AP attached). I also think that the distinction is not so much between Wifi 5, 6 or 7, but between the pro and non-pro versions. In home settings the Pro versions dont offer anything as they are only capable of handling more clients, not have better coverage as ppl tend to think. Lastly, I think that starters should look at getting second hand AC (wifi 5) AP's to get good coverage in their homes. Coming of a single Wifi Router and moving into Unifi, the coverage from a single Unifi AP is often worse so getting two used AC (wifi 5) AP's for the price of one AX (wifi 6) AP is a good choice. Especially the HD Nano is a very strong value bet with its 4x4 mimo antennas. Used Unifi equipment in general gives good bang for buck, with ppl uprgrading their DM Pro's for instance or their AC AP's for wifi 6 or even 7. Just steer clear of the old school USG as it's low specs make it obsolete today, would be my only exception.

Wish there is like starter kit everything in one package to get started with nice video

Thanks - great video as always! I have a dated UniFi system with a USG& CK that I want to upgrade and also add cameras. I would get a CloudKey+ for the cameras; does the Cloud Gateway Ultra work as a gateway for the CK+ or do I need a different gateway (Gateway Lite or Max)?

Felt special today. A couple of weeks ago you replied to one of my comments telling me that I should stay tuned as this video was coming. Thank you for sharing this great overview. I have researched a lot and this summarizes all the needed basics in a clear way in one place. 🎉 With regards to self hosting the Network Controller, is there any limitations or drawbacks to it?

I get the start off with basics but this is how you get sucked in and then it's just upgrade after upgrade after upgrade. I want this. I want that. Never ends.

I love my 16 lite poe switch. It’s the best looking switch imo, and reliable. Powering 2 APs and a Zimaboard too

Great video! I just subscribed. Question for you. We are early in the build building a 2 story stretched out 6000 sq ft house. I want to use the ceiling mounted APs. My question is whether they radiate up or only down (or if power radiating up is significantly less). I’ve assumed they radiate mainly down, so I’m thinking of 3 on the top floor and two on the lower floor. If they are omnidirectional then I probably don’t need three on the top floor. Thanks!

Just went to use your Product Selector. Missing multi-wan option for searching. IMO one of the hardest things to wade through between gateway types.

For my small house, the Express does everything I need it to. Neat little box.

I wish Ubiquiti would have an access point that has 2 network ports. This way, we can daisy chain 2 or 3 of them without the need to run multiple network cables to reach each access point. The first AP in the chain can be fed with PoE ++, which then provides power to the second AP down the line with PoE+. The second AP then provides PoE power to a third AP.

I got annoyed about the ISP "quality" router that wasnt able to handle all the clients (ca 20 that is not massive considering IoT and a family where everyone has phone and comp) so 1st thing I tried was EOL enterprise firewall that makes my home network now. Then I got annoyed about the wifi coverage and got 2 U6+ APs to mesh the house and yard around it. At first planned to use them as a standalone but then found that its possible to add unify controller to my NAS via docker. Next steps are at some point to retire the FW and get the unify gateway and preferably switch to separate IoT network from general network.

I currently run the network controller in a docker container on a raspberry pi to manage my ubiquiti wifi. The rest of my network is (currently) from other manufacturers

Great video! I've just started getting in the realm of unifi and this is just what I needed. Do you happen to have a video on port forwarding (do I do this through the controller? Gateway? Or switches?) and creating vlans using unifi? I'd really like to see how the software works for both these and what extra devices are needed for vlans especially when it comes to communicating cross vlans and permissions.

Thank you for reminding me about the Flex. We have a TPLink 5 port switch in our kitchen and I never liked having a power cord to feed to it alongside the Ethernet cable. For $29 I don’t have to.

I’m running ultra gateway with the 210w ultra switch with a 60w ultra switch with a u6-lr access point. It’s a great system. I’ve installed many dream machine pro for small business and large home. Ultra line is perfect for small homes.

12:27 The UniFi Express can only handle an additional 4 UniFi devices, not 30.

I really like Unifi products. I have a U6+ and I'm planning to get a UCG-Ultra, but I find the switches too expensive. I'll use a managed switch from TP Link and a POE injector instead. It doesn't make sense to pay the same for an 8-port switch as for a Gateway.

Which modern routers can be managed with a self hosted unifi controller?

I prefer the lite 8 Poe over the ultra as it has more L2 features like IGMP snooping. I wouldn’t recommend the flex mini under a TV if you’re using IP TV. As it also hasn’t got IGMP snooping.

Anyway you can go over the Ubiquiti Modem and what's required to utilize this in a standard configuration for a home?

Thx for this video, UCG-Ultra & U6+ are on the way. I'll wait for the switch, the one I'm using works fine (plus I need link aggregation and don't find if Unifi switches has it)

Currently, my small setup is composed of ultra gateway and switch and one U6+ as you recommended. For when an NVR in the ultra lineup. In my opinion the Cloud Key Gen 2 is to expensive for small deployment

When it comes to the APs, there is a consideration between the U6+ and U6 Lite (amongst others) that is often overlooked until its too late is Protect All-In-One Sensor support. These are an extremely handy little sensor that doesn't connect to all APs due to a lack of BT implementation. The U6+ and U6 Lite are the same price for me in the EU and this can be an important distinction between them.

I run my whole office on a little flex mini. Doesn’t miss a beat!

8:46 the USW-Lite-8-POE will give you 52w Poe for $50 less, apart from having 8 W less available power the only downside I can see is it limits you to only 4poe port but with that small of a Poe budge chances are your not connecting more than 4 POE devices anyway

One small correction about multi-gigabit gateways. Their ports may be 2.5 gigabit, the connection back to the cpu is still limited to 1 Gbps.

Is it possible to run Unifi Express only as a local network controller? I will keep pfsense as my main router.

Heads up with the Flex-Mini, VLANs are a bit weird, the ports can be set to VLAN1 Untagged (all other VLANs tagged), or to a single VLAN untagged. You cant apply custom port profiles like you can the other switches. It is a nice switch for odd ball applications, but has limitations.

Does the new ultra switch come in different models or SKUs, depending on how it is used? If I choose the No AC Adapter option on the store page, meaning the switch will be powered by a PoE input, will I receive a switch that is different than one if I had chosen 210W AC Adapter option?

Just noticed but it may be good to call out that all of the links on the selector are afiliate links. I don't see anything wrong with it as I expected it and the selector you built is much better than what Ubiquiti has but it would probably be good to state it nonetheless.

i really hope unifi does more with 2.5g in the future. A 2.5g Flex Mini would be awesome.

Is the 30 device limit on other unifi devices for the express new? Didn’t it used to be 5? That was what was holding me back.

I run a different router, but have 6 switches (1st Gen) and 6 APs (Nano HDs and ACs). Solid coverage everywhere, mostly everything is wired besides iPhones, iPads and a g4 doorbell.

My network is kinda crazy for a small 1100sq ft condo

Nice!

The Ultra really is a cool switch though you didn't call out its killer feature. PoE Passthrough. You can power it with PoE++ which it can then split and provide POE output to other devices. This means you do NOT need to have it plugged into an outlet. I have the older USW-Flex deployed in my attic to run an AP and cameras from it and it is amazing.

Did they do an update I haven't heard of that allows unifi express to handle more than four external devices?

I currently have a UDM (so the one before the UDR) and just got upgraded to 10Gbps (thank you, Sonic!) which puts me in an interesting place. I don’t want the form factor of a UDMPro or UDM SE (I am in a small apartment, I can’t fit a rack) but both the UX and the UCGUltra are capped at 1Gbps, which means I don’t gain anything by moving upwards even if it is two generations. Hopefully the next iteration of the UD is at least 5Gbps, or if a more powerful UCG comes out I can combine it with a mesh AP

I had a UDM once, my only gripe was I couldnt limit LAN bandwidth hogs and so switched back to ASUS mech system and been fine since. Always wanted the UniFi gear though.

For AP how do you know if the antenna or signal it is broadcasting is omni directional or directional? Like I think most are omni but if looking at the U7 Outdoor or U6 Mesh Pro or AC Mesh Pro for outdoor or U7 Pro Wall or U6 In-Wall would I need to place them facing the direction that I need coverage and thus may need multiple ones comapred to U6 Mesh which I think is omni directional. Just was wondering

Any word on a Gateway Max Ultra, basically a gateway max that runs unifi network? I want at min 2.5 gbps for wan and to switch. Which leaves me with an expensive dream machine pro or the Gateway max, but then I still need something to run the network if I go with the max?

How do I know how much POE Power I have available in a switch? Like if you get the Lite 16 POE it tells you 45W POE available. But others it doesn't tell you or I couldn't find it. Does that also depend on if you are using a 60W vs 120W power supply like in the Ultra? I assume that is correct. Also so you recommend like getting the Lite 16 and then if you need more POE just get an adapter for each device that you need more power for oure get a more powerful POE switch?

Do I need to have Unifi switches to be able to use the Unifi wifi Access Points and a Unifi Gateway? I have a small Cisco PoE switch already that has enough ports available.

So I live in a 2 floored brick home. When using the planning tools it looks like 1 u6+ would cover the whole floor. How would I plan for the ground floor ? Would 1 penetrate 2 floors ?

I have experience with basic unifi. i have found that I need more APs to get good signal in townhouses and singal family homes. Issue I have is that the Unifi APs do not have same speeds like other consumer APs do. I see like 300-350Mbps but on Orbi or Eero I can get 600+. That has been my experiences.

Thanks for the helpful video. I recommend wearing a light shirt, so we do not see the dead pixel anymore ; )

Any chance you can add some of the legacy products to the UI Product Selector? I've got a UDM (non-Pro), a Beacon HD, Switch Lite 8 and two U6+ APs (and a Plug which is kinda useless, unfortunately).

Do I need a unify network controller if I want to use unify access points?

Why the Ultra 60W over the Switch Lite 8 POE? It seems like the Ultra 60W is $50 more for little if any benefit.

Personally i run a Unifi Express for my wifi and a Cloud Gateway Ultra (I got it from work as a gift) So i run all i need for now

Just wondering: wouldn't the Swiss Army Knife AP be more suited for a basic outdoor access point? It's about half the price compared to the U6 Mesh. I've been in doubt between the two to cover a medium sized residential garden. Thanks for the video, and your entire channel. It's been one of my main sources on learning about Ubiquity and home networks.

Stupid question: Can an edgerouter x be the gateway and/or controller?

I would like to see an explanation of "pro" vs "long range" and wi-fi 5 vs 6. I have a deployment now with three UAP-AC-LR (wifi 5-long range) APs. If I moved to wifi 6 AP's, do I still need the long range versions? Or would the U6 Pro have similar range to the wifi5 UAP-AC-LR?

How do you create multiple lists on the part picker?

I got the Unifi Express to have Wifi 6 and an updated gateway from my USG. I have too many unifi devices for it though "according to ubiquiti" so I though well thats ok since I have my own locally hosted controller... nope it would not work in gateway mode with a seperate controller, only would work as an AP. However I backup my controller then restored it to the express controller and all of my devices connected and can be managed. I cant add anymore and I am one over the limit....

Any advice on how to get my USG out of an adopt loop? I reconfigured my controller software to run off my home server and now when I look at the UI it keeps stuck trying to adopt and it connects for awhile but goes back into the adopt.

Precisely the recommendation for my parents setup

The unifi switches are expensive is there a reason to go with them over something cheaper?

this wouldve been nice to see 4 months ago... anyway still happy with my dream machine pro

Is anybody else not able to activate 320 MHz on the U7 Pro? Talk about a baiting switch since it was marketed with that.

When I built my parents house. They were able to wire Ethernet through the house but only to junction boxes on the wall. They didn’t want me to fish more wire, so I picked up a U6-IW and a Dream Router to allow for a future Protect Install. I just need to replace the camera with Unifi ones.

Does POE is default turn off in switches? just not to fry something what not using it...

A few things I have noticed. Everything covered addresses only gigabit networks (with the exception of when cts mentioned the dream machine in the beginning). But breaking the bank is exactly what going with the 2.5 gig appliances would do. But to ensure those bases are covered these are my recommendations.... (not that you _should_ follow these starting out, it's only to cover those that have a multi gig connection, for whatever reason) For the firewall, dream machine se For the main switch, the 16 port pro max poe For the main ap the basic pro u7 ap. If you have a second lvl or a basement, any of the u6 aps or hit up ebay and get and an ac app. Out Door connection issues? Get the cheapest outdoor rated ap you can get. a spotty room? get a flex. Run as much ethernet as you can yourself, and make sure you have a device that will let you lable and check every run you have done.

Sir I have question This products any anti tethering for share hotspot wifi?

Is the express a good travel router?

Selector doesn’t show all equipment available. Doesn’t show PoE rack mounted switches. I’m doing a DM SE gateway with 24port PoE switch and using 2 WiFi 6 Access points with a 3rd access point that will be the WiFi 6 LR version to cover the rest of the house.

I got the gateway ultra can’t decide on a Poe switch

How can you tell how many access points you need? I have a two story house that is 1940 sq ft.

Too late… I shattered the bank about three weeks ago on UniFi gear. I’m still gonna watch though.

Your UNFI Selector page is not opening of Safari, Firefox, Brave or Chrome

I like Chris's $10,000 Unifi setup

I think there was one mistake, the express does not support 30 unifi devices. Its only 5 i think

It’s not just brick or concrete Holmes. You need to worry about. If you have an old house with plaster of Paris, you can forget about WiFi reaching anywhere. Those old plaster walls are cast on metal wire leth. It’s basically a faraday cage.

i wish you also covered gateway speed capabilities (2.5 wan/2.5+ lan) cause most of those who get ubiquiti will have gigabit internet or higher. 1gbe network overhead on gigabit+ internet is like leaving money on the table.